I’m no pilot, but for Christmas I did get two new awesome remote control toys: A Blade CX2 electric helicopter and an AeroBird Swift electric airplane. These are not the cheap kind you get at Toys R Us, but the high end ones that come only from hobby stores.
Having never owned any high-end R/C machines before I unpacked my toys and proceeded to immediately crash them, with impunity!
After this costly little experience I decided that perhaps it would be less costly to get a little “virtual” practice before I put myself in the poor house buying replacement parts.
Not wanting to spend a fortune on flight simulation games either, I began searching for free flight simulator games that would be both entertaining and educational. Here now is my thoroughly tested list of the top free flight simulator games.
First, a little about the hardware I used for testing purposes.
- Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
- Saitek Aviator PS-33 flight sim joystick
- Dell 3.2Ghz P4 / 2GB RAM / SATA drives
- 128 MB Nvidia Graphics card with dual monitors
Now, on to the rankings – in reverse order of course, to keep you in suspense while you read on to number 1!
4.) FlightGear
It seems like the big daddy of the bunch is FlightGear, an open source game available for just about any platform out there (Unix, Win, Mac, etc.). There are tons of airplanes and also scenery for the entire world!
Even with a joystick, it’s important to print out the Quick Reference because you have to use the keyboard too.
For me, this was a little too much of a real flight simulator and not quite enough of a “game”. Not being a pilot, I don’t really want the flight simulator game to be as realistic as possible. I just want to have control over the basics and be able to practice my takeoffs, landings and maneuvers.
3.) Aces High
When I first discovered the Aces High Web site I was not really all that thrilled. It is a nice looking site, but it appeared that the game was only free because you’d have to pay to go online and dogfight with other users. Still, I decided to install it anyway and check it out. I’m glad I did, because it turned out to be a great flight simulator game!
In my opinion this game offers a number of attractive features:
- The game appears to offer a lot of options for the more experienced flight simulator pilots, but it was also easy enough to use that I was able to get up and flying (and shooting) without even reading the manual.
- The game allows you to choose different planes, theaters, armaments, and all kinds of other options.
- You do not have to go online to fly around and shoot planes down. You can play in the practice mode as long as you want with plenty of planes to go after.
- The flight simulator seems pretty real to me. You can black out from G-forces, you can crash, run out of fuel or ammo, eject, parachute and much more that I haven’t even explored yet.
- Finally, if and when the day comes that you feel like going online and joining the community that option is always available.
2.) Flight Model Simulator
The reality is that this is the only free flight simulator game in the bunch that is actually realistic for flying model airplanes, which is of course what started me on the hunt for flight simulators in the first place! When I play this I realize just how much practice I actually need before going out and crashing my R/C plane and helicopter.
Seriously, I’ve practiced for hours and I still suck! So, the reason that I didn’t rate this game number 1 is that it’s not what I would call “fun” although it is educational.
Also, it’s a little rough around the edges in certain areas mainly relating to the graphics and to how the joystick interfaced with the game.
However, if you’re needing some software to practice for a remote controlled airplane you need to get this one and use it!
1.) YSFlight
Of all the free flight simulator games here, this one impresses me the most because it was created by just one guy, who happens to also be a pilot.
The fact that it comes from a lone developer doesn’t seem to have been a problem though because the game allows you to fly more than 40 types of airplanes, dogfight, ground attack, be a formation leader, take off & land on an aircraft carrier, try cross wind landings, network play, and more!
The best part about this game is that you can use it as a flight simulation trainer, or you can use it as an air combat game! It is a relatively small download, the plane choices are actually planes you’d want to fly, and it’s just plain fun.
YSFlight simply wins this contest hands down!
If anyone has other good freeware flight simulator games that I should check out, I’d love to know about them! Just drop a comment below.
Other software I already evaluated includes:
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try http://gefs-online.com I think it’s as good as the others AND you don’t have to download anything to use it!
I must have misunderstood what you wanted , you said you wanted to practice flying your rc heli or airplane , none of these help with that , I have FMS witch does not have good graphics but really helps with learning how to use your controls. HeliSimRC works really well for heli’s only, good graphics good controls and only one back drop of a school back yard is almost the best. BMI Flight Simulator is really good not good heli’s but good planes and a couple of fun chase the birds game. AeroSim-RC is $80 ish it covers a lot of ground and is worth the money.
You can check FreeFalcon, originally an mod for Falcon 4.0, now is an stand-alone free game.
Nice post. I like flightgear out of everything there. I think flightgear is even better than fsx simply because fsx is nothing without addons :P
For those of you that have read this and like YS Flight, please visit ysfhq.com for thousands of addons including scenery, aircraft, and more. Also we have events that we plan such as air shows (online yes), Virtual airlines to join, and combat squadrons. You will get the most out of your virtual flying experience from ys with these enhancements!
You are a major time saver and you helped me get my money back (long story).
try TU-95 Hypergames flight simulator. Reliable flight controls and aircraft response
i think you should try GEFS Google Earth Flight Simulator
you should try Xplane.
link for free demo is here: http://www.x-plane.com/downloads/x-plane_10_demo/
Aren’t you forgetting Google Earth?
It has the most realistic flight simulator by far.
How about ‘Google Earth Flight Simulator’
i like to practice
Cool flight sims, I already knew some of them but not all.
Thanks.
WARNING: My Anti-Virus pop-up a warning about this site, it seems you have some kind of script redirecting code to/from malware detected at: http://taintfurl.org/gw5uxczxw1iksjzye/
It’s So Cool This Game
Well the best graphic levels are always on Microsoft FS products but if you do not mind it you can have fun with same reality effects on FlightGear for free…
Also in multiplayer map here http://mpmap02.flightgear.org and it is very fun to fly with other players or the ATC with Voip or Skype…
I have never test a real dogfight in FlightGear although there are models of miitary fighter with firing weapons and realistic machinegun sounds.
AirAttack is good for a free dogfight but the design is not the maximum… of course.
I wonder if someone could create or restore a free web site just to play online (and in multiplayer battle rooms) some of the “old flight simulations” now abandon softwares such as CrimsonSkies etc. etc.
There were beautiful simulators easy to play and to enjoy for me.
FMS is great, really, if you want to practice model airplane flight. It’s a shame though it isn’t available for Win7… I still have an XP machine at home I can use it with, but eventually that XP machine will go. what would I do then?
hey john i am very fond of planes and can land bigger planes from middle of runway…i can also do dogfights…i have old version of ys fs2000..can you tell me the details of the new flightsim and hw to down load thatx